Mountain gazelle
| Mountain gazelle | |
|---|---|
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| Mountain gazelle (male) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Bovidae |
| Subfamily: | Antilopinae |
| Genus: | Gazella |
| Species: | G. gazella |
| Binomial name | |
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Gazella gazella (Pallas, 1766) |
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The mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella) is a species of gazelle widely but unevenly distributed in Israel, Lebanon,the Golan Heights, and Turkey. It inhabits mountains, foothills, and coastal plains. Its range coincides closely with that of the acacia trees that grow in these areas. It is mainly a grazing species, though this varies with food availability. It is less well adapted to hot, dry conditions than the Dorcas gazelle, which appears to have replaced the mountain gazelle through some of its range during the late Holocene in a period of climatic warming.
In 1985, a large population of mountain gazelles built up through game conservation in two Israeli reserves, in the southern Golan Heights and Ramat Yissachar, was decimated by foot and mouth disease. To prevent such occurrences, a plan was drawn up to stabilize the female population at 1,000 in the Golan and 700 in Ramat Yissachar.
Less than 3,000 mountain gazelles are left within their natural range. Mountain gazelles can reach running speeds up to 80 km/h (50 mph).
The Levantine mountain gazelle – G. gazella – resides largely in three areas: the Golan Heights, West Bank, Ramot Naftali and the Galilee. In the coastal plain, there is a small population of gazelles but the numbers are decreasing in the wake of accelerated urbanization. The population decreased greatly throughout its natural range in the first part of the 20th century due to poaching. but increased thereafter thanks to conservation efforts.Gazelle Valley in Jerusalem preserves a small herd.
The Hatay mountain gazelle is the subspecies which lives the northeast. They live in Syrian border of Turkey in Hatay Province.
Historically, some others such as the Cuvier's gazelle (G. cuvieri) were included as a subspecies, but recent authorities consistently treat them as separate species.
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Wikipedia